A BOLD vision for a new multi-million pound stadium to replace Macclesfield Town FC’s Moss Rose ground has been revealed.

The proposal is for a 7,000-capacity ground built on land next to Congleton Road and to the north of Danes Moss landfill site.

It would also include a 750-seat concert venue, community facilities, and conference space.

The stadium plan could bring a host of international soccer stars to the town – it has been included in a list of potential training camps in Manchester’s host city proposal for the 2018 world cup bid.

Mike Rance, chairman of Macclesfield Town, said: "The club’s vision for the new stadium is challenging but innovative, incorporating and extending ideas that have been developed elsewhere.

"The stadium will be designed to meet the needs of the football club but will also incorporate facilities that can provide benefits to the community and the town."

In what could be a UK first, the pioneering stadium would be a source of renewable energy by using methane from the landfill to produce a carbon-neutral building. Construction would be funded through the sale of the 108-year-old Moss Rose and various grants, but also new income streams from conference and arts facilities.

Mike hopes a new ground could be finished by 2013. George Williams, from the Silkmen Supporters Trust, welcomed the news.

He said: "We’re 100 per cent supportive of the football club’s vision for a new stadium in south Macclesfield.

"This announcement has come at a good time in the club’s history, and if this new development is completed, we will have a ground of which all Silkmen fans can be proud."

Mike has been working closely with planning bosses and wants a new stadium to be part of an overall plan for the town.

A report on the town centre redevelopment and the South Macclesfield Development Area (SMDA) will go before CEC’s cabinet on Tuesday (December 22) to provide a blueprint for the delivery of these ideas over the next ‘five to ten years’. Councillors will also debate the new stadium vision.

A similar link between the club’s plans for a stadium and the SMDA was reported in September 2007.

The SMDA, which is a 60-hectare site between Congleton Road and the mainline railway to the east, was the subject of a 2002 retail planning application – dubbed Danegate – but quashed by planning chiefs.

The SMDA scheme still lies on the table along with the Wilson Bowden town centre regeneration.